His eyes were the first to see what was inside La Conga, a completely dark wide room that opened after passing a tight narrow passageway of about seven meters that could only be crossed on all fours.
Heiner Madrigal, a 31-year-old psychopedagogue, thus became the first eyewitness to what was hidden in that unexplored cave in the north of our country, in the expedition that he catalogs as the most exciting of all those that have taken him under the area.
“It was the first cave that I had to 'deflower'”, he says between laughs, but with a lot of pride.
That day, as soon as his eyes discovered the imposing enclosure, he felt something elongated and wet that moved insistently on his right shoulder...
A snake?
His story ends with an unexpected ending, because the scare he got, he finished as soon as he noticed that what was brushing against his body was not a reptile, but a branch hanging from a stone.
On cavers' journeys, however, snakes and other risks of various kinds often accompany the explorers from the beginning to the end of the path.
Heiner and his colleagues from the Speleological Association of Costa Rica have become accustomed to all those latent dangers that are part of the passion that makes them immerse themselves in the darkest places: cave exploration.
Speleology deals with the study of underground cavities.
The goals of each mission rub shoulders with disciplines such as hydrography, archaeology, biology, chemistry and geology. The objective is always exploratory, but it entails various scientific studies, such as topographical or bacteriological studies, since it is even believed that the analysis of the bacteria that inhabit caves could open a door to theorize about life on other planets.
Here, and anywhere in the world, however, caving is often an unpaid trade, fueled more by passion, curiosity and daring.
In Costa Rica, speleological adventures can be satisfied in depth in three important zones: the area of Venado caves (in the north zone), Tempisque and the south zone.
Data from the local group of speleologists Antros indicate that, in total, more than 330 caves have been registered in the country. These include small cavities, even others in which underground "tubes" of more than 800 meters in length unfold.
Here it is possible to find caverns of volcanic origin, such as one near the Irazú volcano, where the stalactites shine with a particular green color difficult to find in another part of the world, explains geologist Andrés Ulloa, who belongs to the two speleological groups of the country.
Most of the local caves, however, are formed in a Karstic environment (relief caused by chemical weathering), of water-soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite and gypsum. These are eroded when water, mixing with carbon dioxide from the soil, forms carbonic acid.
This erosion process can take millions of years as rock slowly dissolves and cave systems form. The cracks widen to the point where a whole river can pass through.
“The most beautiful thing about this is all the part that accompanies the unknowns of what has not yet been analyzed”, says Daniele Rocchi, a translator who has approached speleology since 2011, with an incomparable thirst for exploration.
The unknowns are all those underground corners still unsolved, in which there are more questions than answers, and that keep speleologists awake at night who are eager to discover what is hidden in passageways under the ground, even if this involves long hours in fast-paced paths, full of obstacles and twists and turns.
risky material
If until now you have believed that visiting a cave is a refreshing weekend walk, you need to know that your impression is quite far from reality.
In April, Dominica Magazine accompanied a group of members of the Speleological Association of Costa Rica to the confines of the Rectángulo cavern, near Ciudad Neily, on an exhausting journey of underground exploration.
At this time of year, it would be impossible to try to repeat the experience, since the ideal season for caving is reduced to summer, at least in the cavities of the southern zone.
This is because the rains could interfere with any crossing, due to the risk – even – that the current surprises the cavers inside a cavern from which it would be impossible to get out alive if the water rises.
At 6:10 am a quartet of seasoned in the world of mountains leads an expedition together with this journalist, a photographer and an audiovisual producer.
The seven of us thus undertake a journey that, until reaching the mouth of the cave, takes three hours of walking, and then we enter the darkness.
The pros wear bright orange shirts, just in case you need to become an easy target in the harsh landscape that could hold many surprises.
Worldwide, deaths from this type of expedition is two or three a year. Serious incidents are also rare.
Among them, the most frequent is that of falls, which can occur due to failures with ropes in vertical descents (the most complicated), or slips while walking. A rescue in a cave, depending on its complexity and depth, can take several weeks.
In the list of dangers, follows that of the people who get a limb stuck between the rocks. These, too, could become detached and cause a serious accident. In those eventualities, not even the helmet (of permanent mandatory and regulatory use), would save anyone.
With the group of experts, all the instructions were clear before starting the trip. The recommendation had been made in advance to bring water and dry food as the main supplies.
In addition, comfortable, light and appropriate boots and clothing were required to discard after the expedition, given the deplorable conditions in which it could be left.
Marlon Barquero is the newest member of the expedition team. Although he belongs to the Nido de Halcón Mountaineers Association, the 28-year-old has never entered a cave before until this visit.
From the very beginning, he was entrusted with carrying several of the essential tools for exploration, such as the shovel or some of the waterproof luggage, in which the photographic equipment, gloves, lights for the helmets or speleologist's tools could go: clinometer, compass and laser to take measurements.
Next to him is Pablo Quesada –business analyst– who has already accumulated experiences going underground.
His favorites are those in which water flows. This gives the clue that it is a relatively new speleological structure, which is still in formation and still has years of life left.
The adventure
Heiner and Daniel take turns leading the pack, hacking their way with a machete and searching for the most appropriate route forward.
The path to meet the cave system is winding, and involves crossing from one end of the river to the other, until climbing through the forest, passing through a montazal where snakes abound.
Heiner is reputed to have an unshakable instinct for spotting reptiles. He says that the average number of finds per tour is three or four.
With boots on, the path begins along the Corredor River, on a property in southern San Rafael that belongs to the Arguedas Elizondo family, made up of 16 brothers.
The neighbors claim to have visited La Bruja, which is just the first cavern of a decade-long system to which Rectángulo, Tururun and Corredores are added. When they did, they entered in sandals and with candles held in cans, an undertaking that undoubtedly represented a significant additional risk.
To reach the mouth of the Rectángulo cavern, on Corredores hill, you must first descend a steep hill (a depression formed by the collapse of a cavern).
From the entrance it is essential to turn on the lights that are held by the helmets, because visibility would quickly be zero if there are no auxiliary light sources.
The sound of the footsteps on the stone are minimal, next to the volume of the bats' wings, whose presence is reduced almost to the first room.
In this you can see a part of the wall with a rectangular shape, from there comes the name of the site, which was baptized by the Grotte Carlo Debeljak group, the first to visit it in the eighties.
The presence of guano, or rather, its inhalation, could generate histoplasmosis, a disease that develops with a fungus in the lungs. To reduce the risk of contracting it, it is essential to cover the mouth and nose with a mask.
The rocky descent leads to a narrow passageway known as "the serpentine". That is the first moment in which you really assess whether you are daring enough, if you are willing to wriggle, shrinking with difficulty your chest and waist so that they achieve cross that narrow gap.
"Adrenaline is the natural remedy for tiredness," says Daniel in the middle of the road that seems to lengthen the minutes. The time invested in this passage responds to the complexity involved in going through it. There would be no other way to advance if not with patience and care. The journey underground is just beginning...
After making another sharp descent, you reach a large sediment dune known as El Tobogán. By then, the adventure already takes place about 65 meters below the surface.
The water of the Guaimí River will be present shortly after, revealing the presence of bearded fish ( Rhamdia Guatemalensis ), named for their mustache-shaped chemoreceptors that allow them to perceive the environment, in the absence of visibility.
The road dries up a few meters later, in a section where it is only possible to advance by crawling or crawling little by little. As you advance, the body seems to be squeezed with different challenges, but another one comes ahead: swimming.
They are barely two or three meters in which the feet take off the ground. These are followed by semi-siphons in which, in several sections, it is necessary to lower your head and submerge briefly in order to advance.
As the river follows its course under the rocks, the path of this expedition runs parallel to the tributary of water. The point comes, at which, in a chimney-like formation, partial seepage of water is observed.
The observation of the force and speed of the fall of drops serves to monitor if there is rain that could threaten the visit. This day will not be a problem, because the leaks do not show major changes over the minutes
The next destination is Calgary Hall, a large room where collapsed stone blocks fill the floor. Meters later there is another contact with the waters of the Guaimí River, in a passage nicknamed “The Metro”, due to its structure similar to that of a subway station.
The route of this expedition reaches this point, although the cavern (photographed 1,411 meters long) ends shortly after, in the Tristán siphon, in which the water passes under the rocks until it connects with the Corredores cavern.
This owes its name to Fernando Tristán, who belonged to the first generation of cavers in the country and was the first Costa Rican to do cave diving, which is considered the most extreme and risky sport in the world, due to all the dangers involved in exploring caves. underwater.
The mission of surveying is limited to a few minutes, since the time of return is marked taking into account that the return to the mouth of the cave will take another two hours and that three more hours will be left on foot, until reaching the riverbank where it began. the adventure.
The day is short for the mission of these cavers, who still hope to finish exploring and surveying Rectangle. In any case, the curious explorers promise to solve this underground mystery next summer.
